That's a useful article as far as it goes, thanks. I think the information is basically correct although it's referring to the 2001 model not the current series which has gone through some additional development. Adam's description of a planetary gear coupling between the two drive motors sounds logical, although I would certainly love to know and understand more about it. All in all, it's fascinating technology that's been a long time coming. I remember seeing ideas and concepts on this kind of drive system as much as 25-30 years back.
Being curious about interesting technology like this, I might see if I can get my hands on a parts fiche and service manual. I know I'm going to crawl around it with a notebook and camera a lot when I get it... :-) Godfrey On Jul 26, 2006, at 10:50 AM, Gonz wrote: > The best description I found is here: > > http://tinyurl.com/pwsck > > If what the author says is correct, then its a very clever scheme to > allow power from both the engine and the motors to contribute via the > differential like device. So it must make a smooth transition to the > engine as the speed goes up, and the motors can contribute if you need > to accelerate, adding their power. So technically, it sounds like > there > is no transmission in the conventional sense? > > It sounds like Peter is wrong about the motor being the only > connection > to the wheels, but he does mention something about mechanical power > being shunted. I'm not sure I understand the terminology enough to > dispute this. I've never seen one in detail mechanically either. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
